Michael Hayden: Dianne Feinstein charge ‘a reach’

Former Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency Director Michael Hayden dismissed charges made earlier this week that the CIA spied on Senate Intelligence Committee staffers, saying to call it such is “a bit of a reach.”

“There’s a chance that [the] CIA looked after the fact — well after the fact — at the data logs of computers that were used by Senate [Intelligence] Committee staffers and contractors. I think the agency’s already admitted that,” Hayden said Friday on CNN’s “New Day.”

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In a floor speech Tuesday, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) accused the agency of snooping on computers Senate staffers used while reviewing agency documents as part of an investigation into Bush-era detention and interrogation programs.

Hayden, who served as CIA director from 2006 to 2009, said that all the facts should come out before rushing to judgment.